The bodyweight lateral rollout

The bodyweight lateral rollout, unique bodyweight exercises difficulty rating for one rep 10 out of 10

Average time taken to master 6 months to one year.

Description

The bodyweight lateral rollout is a hardcore deltoid exercise that can build almost super human shoulder strength when mastered. If you include this in your training program you will have added a truly awesome power builder to your bodyweight skills but this exercise should only be attempted by those who are already extremely fit and strong.

To do the bodyweight lateral rollout you need to position yourself in a handstand against the wall with a dumbbell in each hand and placed so they can move out to the side. From there you roll them out directly in line with your shoulders slowly and under control until your head is an in inch from the floor, hold the position for a second or two and then bring the dumbbells back together.

It is important that the muscles of your arms, chest and shoulders are tensed the whole time to control your movement and that you focus on squeezing your arms together at the bottom of the rep to power yourself back up to the starting position.

Note, because this exercise is performed upside down on two dumbbells the potential for injury is high if you loose control so always cushion the floor with protection and have somebody spot you when you attempt this, also remember that this article is for information purposes only and anything you do is at your own risk.

Method of progression

The first stage of progression for the bodyweight rollout is to master the chest rollout, the crucifix press up and the crucifix rollout as they all have similarities to the bodyweight rollout and will help you build the strength necessary to execute it.

As well as the 3 above exercises you should also begin to practice your handstand against a wall so that you become comfortable in this position.

The next phase is to start training for the bodyweight lateral rollout but under no circumstances should you try to do a full rep at this stage as you will either not be able to pull yourself back up or you will injure your shoulder joint. What you need to do is begin partial reps to learn the control necessary and build the strength specific to this exercise.

When you train partial reps I highly recommend that you tie one end of a strong rope on each dumbbell with only enough slack left for the distance you want them to stop at. The purpose of doing this is, they will then not be able to move any further apart should you loose control. However, remember that you should pull back the dumbbells before the rope reaches its maximum length as this is only for safety and you will not learn the control necessary if you make a habit of letting the rope stop your decent.

The progression to the full bodyweight lateral rollout is simply lowering yourself down further over a period of time until you can complete a full rep and once you have mastered it you will be among a select group of people who possess the upper body strength and muscular control to execute this skill.

Advice

Like all advanced bodyweight exercises you need patience to nail this skill so be prepared to spend many months training for it.

Build up a high level of upper body strength before you try the lateral rollout.

Always cushion the floor with some protection and have someone spot you for this exercise.

Bending you arms makes this exercise easier but is not a true bodyweight lateral rollout.